School leaders will have new guidelines showing them how to stop an Ofsted inspection if staff show signs of distress after a coroner called for change following the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Ofsted is set to publish a new policy on pausing an inspection of a maintained school or academy “where a serious issue has been identified” as part of its response to senior coroner Heidi Connor’s prevention of future deaths report.
Mrs Perry killed herself after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School, in Reading, from its highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns.
In December, Ms Connor concluded the Ofsted inspection on November 15-16 in 2022 “likely contributed” to Mrs Perry’s death.
She then urged the watchdog to act to prevent further deaths in a report sent to Ofsted and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.
Among her concerns were the impact on headteacher welfare that the current system may have, and “the almost complete absence of Ofsted training” for inspectors looking for signs of distress in school leaders.
Ms Connor said in her conclusion that Ofsted’s claim that school inspections can be paused if the distress of a headteacher is a concern, was “a mythical creature”.
The new policy will be published ahead of Monday, when the watchdog is due to restart inspections after they were halted earlier in the month for inspectors to receive mental health training.
An independent learning review of Ofsted’s response to the death of Mrs Perry will be carried out as part of a listening exercise – the Big Listen – which will hear from parents, leaders and professionals about Ofsted’s current approach, the changes being made, and whether more can be done to protect children, raise standards and improve lives.
